5 Warning Signs of a Toxic Company Culture

5 Warning Signs of a Toxic Company Culture
Toxic cultures are everywhere. Watch for the signs and get ready to walk right back out the door.

The High Cost Of A Toxic Culture

Sometimes, a toxic culture is glaringly obvious. At other times, it is masked behind the gossip, fake smiles, and the knife in your back as you walk through the meeting room door. A toxic culture generates significant problems for an organization anything from financial loss, high turnover, lower levels of engagement and productivity.

The Access Perks Blog shows that in the United States 40% of organizations state the loss of personnel as a top concern, engaged employees are relatively low at 13%, employee turnover costs organizations $11 billion, with a massive 80% of employees reportedly being stressed out by work.

Here are 5 signs to look for prior to deciding to join a company or when you make the decision to type up your resignation and walk out the door.

1. Inauthentic Leaders

Inauthentic leaders who lack honesty, integrity and transparency.

They say one thing yet do something completely different. Live by the maxim - actions speak louder than words. These leaders are the first to speak and the last to take action.

In fact, employees find it difficult to trust them let alone believe a word they say. The Cornerstone On Demand report indicates that working with a toxic colleague encourages 54% of good employees to quit.

People naturally follow inspirational leaders who practice what they preach. Leaders who don't just simply say the right things, they also do the right things.

2. Unmotivated Employees

When employees disconnect from an organization it is usually very obvious. They are not connected to their work, they wallow, waste time and have little or no interest in the values or vision of the organization.

Subsequently, they spend more time gossiping, concocting ways to take extra time off or leave early and spend more time at the water cooler and coffee shop than they do working. These employees drain your energy as they are negative to be around and infect others with their constant complaints and looks of unhappiness.

They are highly unmotivated with little or no desire to be promoted. They are simply filling in their time until they decide it's time to move on or find another opportunity that has more 'perceived' benefits. 

3. Playing Games

Some leaders and employees may spend more time playing games, anything from complaining, blaming others, developing strategies to sabotage other people's careers, or devise a plan to remove them from the company altogether.

This may be achieved by building mutually beneficial relationships with other senior executives or becoming a part of a 'clique' that has significant power or decision making ability.

I once worked with a high profile organization that had a great brand, talented people and a long list of outstanding achievements. However, the tide had turned and they suffered from a toxic culture via ambiguous communication, changes in leadership, a vague vision, bad management practices, and leaders playing games.

The once highly successful organization suffered from negative press and massive financial losses which led to a high turnover, low levels of engagement and productivity and fearful employees. 

4. Zero Communication

When communication is reduced to a bare minimum, employees have no idea of what is really going on despite announcements being made and meetings being held. There is a lack of understanding with no-one knowing the 'real' truth of the current situation or what the future holds.

This leads to employee's feeling fearful, anxious, and nervous thereby accelerating gossip and 'stories' about what could or will happen within the organization. This leads to confusion, stress and major unhappiness. 

People love to be acknowledged, they want clear communication, to know and understand the direction of the organization which includes an inspiring vision for the future. At the end of the day, employees want to know that they are valued, that their contribution matters, and they are doing work that makes a difference.

5. Red Tape

In some organizations, the red tape is so entrenched, it would take years to untangle the mess.

Employees become really frustrated when they are constantly stopped or blocked by the obstacles created by red tape. The constant interruptions, endless processes and policies become overwhelming and exhausting for those keen to achieve and exceed their individual, team and organizational goals. 

Bear these 5 signs in mind, the next time you attend a job interview. Do your due diligence, ask lots of questions and take a good look behind the glossy facade.

Your happiness at work impacts every area of your life including your health, family and lifestyle. Be sure to make the 'right' choice for you.

Thank you to Angelina Zimmerman for writing this article. 

The 7 Essential Make-Or-Break Traits Of Successful First Hires

The 7 Essential Make-Or-Break Traits Of Successful First Hires
After many hiring successes and failures, I've found these traits make the difference between employees that catapult high-growth companies to new levels or struggle to succeed.

First hires are critical.

The decision is often centered on price or budget, followed by the resume. But, it's important not to forget a third, vital element: The individual. Their personality, work style, and much more can make or break their success.

How can you determine these traits during your hiring process? Here are a few to look for:

1. Purpose Fit

Alignment of purpose can work like a vaccine during the challenges that arise.

For example, at the core of Simple Mills is our purpose to positively impact the way food is made, and a belief that the food we eat impacts how we feel on a daily basis. If wholesome, nutritious food isn't an important part of a candidate's lifestyle, they're not a fit for us.

Ask why candidates are interested in your company and what they are passionate about.  See also:

2. Culture Fit

Company culture starts with your first employee and it's very difficult to change once it's created. Soul search ahead of time to determine what is important to you about how work gets done and how employees interact.

For example, I believe that analytics, attention to detail, and in-person collaboration are critical to business. Someone who does not share this view or prefers to work remotely may not flow in our culture.

Identify what you believe is important to your culture and business, and discuss it with potential hires. 

See also: 5 Ways to Find out if a Candidate Will Fit Your Company's Culture

3. Appreciation for Change

In the first years of an early stage company, each month looks different and jobs change quickly.

During the interview, be upfront about this; nothing is guaranteed or etched in stone. Note that those who ask many questions about the stability of the business are often seeking a more stable atmosphere.

Look for candidates that who don't just like change, but love it.

4. Pace

A strong sense of urgency is necessary in every high-growth company.

Test this during the interview process by giving the candidate an assignment. You will not only learn about the employee's raw skills, but also their pace.

Those who return the assignment near or after deadline are red flags for a high-growth company.  Look for candidates who are eager to turn around high-quality work, quickly.

See also: Driving a Sense of Urgency, One Simple Move that Will Accelerate the Energy of Your Company

5. Prioritization Skills

High-growth companies have continuously competing priorities and lengthy to-do lists. Employees must be able to prioritize and accomplish most important items first, or they will feel constantly overwhelmed and consistently underperform.

Ask your candidates how they organize their week, how they start their day, and what they do when they have a large list of tasks.

6. Drive for Achievement

Someone who isn't content with the status quo, who wants to see accomplishments for themselves and the team, is an ideal first hire.This individual will constantly rise above obstacles, help move colleagues, and strive for the same success you want to achieve.

This is one of the few traits you can actually see on a resume. Look for past achievements or any other quantification of success.

7. Grit

High growth businesses hit many bumps along the way.

Our first hires traveled ten weekends out of the year, toted heavy bags across the country, and worked late hours.  Not everyone is cut out for this, but you need people on your team that say "Game On!" in the face of difficulty.

Ask candidates about the career challenges they've faced and how they reacted.  And most importantly, be clear and honest about your expectations for hours and work so that misfit candidates can select out.

See Also: Why Grit is the Real Key to Success in Business

In Conclusion

It is difficult to find the right hires. Be patient! It is far worse to hire the wrong person at the cost of your business or culture.

It's trite but true: It costs more to fire a bad hire than to wait for the right one.

Thank you to katlin Smith for writing this article.

5 Characteristics of Startup Cultures That Crush It (And It Works For Corporate Giants Too)

5 Characteristics of Startup Cultures That Crush It (And It Works For Corporate Giants Too)
These concepts work for companies of 5, 500, or 5,000 employees. The catch? It starts with rock-solid leadership.

What I love about startups are the feelings of close community, collaboration, and emotional bonds found in the early stages of culture development.

Unfortunately, as companies grow exponentially, many lose their unique identity and the shared values that made them such great places to work. But it doesn't have to be that way.

The first thing I need tell you is that developing or sustaining your culture doesn't come from a to do list. It's not a system you implement. It's a mindset a leader must have to declare from her heart, "I'm going to foster the environment for a culture of caring, trust, and respect to develop." And by example, others catch on, and it spreads.

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.  -- John C. Maxwell

How do you turn this idea into action? The Maxwell quote gives us plenty of clues. It starts with developing a community where leaders have their people's backs. Here's how great leaders do it:

1. They build community by developing strong relationships

This means investing time with your most valued employees to learn who they really are. In turn, this produces great collaboration.

But you need to get personal and learn who plays on your team. Let me ask you a question: How well do you know the people that work closest to you? Do you know the events of their lives that have shaped who they are today?

I mean, if you're going to be spending the better part of eight, ten, or twelve hours per day working alongside them, you might want to get to know them well. Do you know their dreams for the future? This is especially important for growing them as their leader.

2. They build community by listening exceptionally well.

In building up community, I can't stress enough the importance of listening to others. Here's what happens -- somewhere along the way to adulthood, we tend to stop listening and learning from others. In fact, it's worse than that. We organize systems and start telling everybody what to do, and then we call it leadership. Seriously!

This approach removes the need and the opportunity for your team to contribute -- to participate and collaborate on the outcomes. And the only way you're going to extend that opportunity and open up the door for these relationships to flourish, is to listen to the contributions of others.

3. They understand the importance of celebration in community.

You can't have strong communities if you don't celebrate accomplishments along the way -- big and small. Celebrations can be personal or professional, individual or team celebrations.

Never stop looking for ways to celebrate life together. This is the essence of community. What have you or what will you accomplish together that's a cause for celebration?  

4. They model transparency in virtual communities.

In this digital age, building community extends to connecting remote teams in a virtual community. Innovative leaders will utilize closed groups or a wiki within a company's intranet to share information, wins, concerns, ideas, and communicate regularly and in the moment.

Transparency and trust are key in developing virtual communities. What you share with one, you share with all. The intent is to get as close as you can to replicating the experience of being in an office together. There's a sense of togetherness there. And it starts with leaders modeling the behaviors of trust and transparency.

Hubspot, the global digital marketing automation company, redefined what it means to be transparent in business. They are now being recognized as having one of the greatest company cultures.

HubSpot co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Dharmesh Shah once published an article on his wiki page called "Ask Dharmesh Anything." And that's exactly what "HubSpotters" did -- engaging in a slew of discussions directly with their CTO.

Buffer, the social media company, will publish pretty much everything: financials, revenues, how your money is being spent, even salaries. Now that's on the radical side of transparency. But they share this with everyone in the hopes of becoming an authentic and trusted community.

5. They collaborate, and teach others to do the same.

Author Ken Blanchard says that the main barrier to a collaborative culture is silos -- people and departments hoarding information and power in a top-down hierarchy.

He shares five keys for successful collaboration from his book, Collaboration Begins with You. These are "silo busters" to work together toward a common goal:

Utilize differences. Actively seek different points of view, and encourage debate. Blanchard says conflict in collaborative groups is good and encouraged, as long as it focuses on the issues and doesn't get personal.

Nurture safety and trust. Trust is key to effective collaboration. Be sure you are accessible, authentic and dependable.

Involve others in crafting a clear purpose, values and goals. Leaders should work with others to create a clear purpose, values and goals (which should include collaboration!). Then hold each other accountable for sticking to those agreements.

Talk openly. This ties back into safety and trust. People need to know it's safe to express themselves, and that their opinions will be respected, says Blanchard.

Empower yourself and others. This means encouraging one another take initiative, develop new skills, and contribute their opinions, even if they disagree.

Closing Thoughts

The driving point I want to bring home is that there is immense power in building healthy communities at work and connecting to people in an relational, authentic level to produce results.

Why? Because relationships drive human satisfaction and performance -- we are wired for it. When leaders pave the way, collaboration, productivity, trust and morale will reach new heights.

Thank you to Marcel Schwantes for writing this article.

7 Ways Successful People Have Better Mindsets

7 Ways Successful People Have Better Mindsets
A successful person is not someone in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of smart attitudes.

1. Successful people don't take failure too seriously.

They see failure as the opportunity to begin again, but this time more intelligently. They know it's not a defining event, and they don't treat it as a problem unless it begins to become a habit. They win as if they are used to it, and they lose as if they're enjoying the challenge.

2. Successful people accept who they are and what they are about.

If you keep putting yourself down, there is no way for you to move forward. Successful people know the smartest mindset you can have is self-acceptance--refusing to be in an adversarial relationship with yourself.

3. Successful people set goals and work to achieve them.

Having a dream is great, but having a dream and goals is smart, because goals are how dreams become achievable. The most successful people are constantly setting and working toward goals to make a positive difference. Goals turn the invisible visible; they let you structure your thinking to always be looking for something you can do to bring you closer to what you want to achieve. Goals lead you to ask every day, "What am I doing that will move me toward where I want to be and what I want to achieve.?" Successful people not only set goals, they set them high. And they don't stop until they reach them.

4. Successful people don't leave things to chance.

Instead of passively hoping for the best, they take control to make things happen. You always have a choice: You can control your mind or you can let it control you. Refusing to leave things to chance shows inner strength, decisiveness, and a strong will. Incredible things happen when you decide to take control of what you can control and let go of the rest.

5. Successful people don't let themselves get sidetracked by problems.

If your mindset is negative, problems will grow in strength and constantly pull you down, sending you on detours of thought into some bad neighborhoods. On the other hand, with a positive mindset you will think of problems as a reason to be creative and come up with innovative solutions. The biggest problem is thinking of problems as problems. Successful people know that when you focus on problems you have more problems, but when you focus on possibilities you have more opportunities.

6. Successful people are decisive.

The most successful people are deft decision makers. They don't waffle or second-guess themselves. They take in the information they need, then clear out their mind and pick the best option based on what they know. If it turns out to be wrong, they learn from it. But they won't be guilty of not deciding at all.

7. Successful people are continually learning.

If you want to go far, borrow the mindset known in Zen Buddhism as shoshin, or learner's mind. That means you don't pretend to know it all but are open to learning and growth and development, with a mind that's fresh and enthusiastic and free of bias. Experience holds lessons for us all, but you have to remain teachable to take advantage of them.

If you're serious about being successful, cultivate these smart mindsets and see where they take you.

Thank you to Lolly Daskal for writing this article.

4 Unusual Ways Successful Companies Keep More of Their Best Customers

4 Unusual Ways Successful Companies Keep More of Their Best Customers
Take a bite out of churn with these innovative customer retention tactics.

Customer retention is invaluable when your business lives or dies on subscriptions.

If you provide some type of monthly subscription service, such as a product or software as a service, it's vital to increase customer lifetime value and retain more of your best customers. But how do you do it?

Is it to build a better product? Well, obviously you want to make your product more valuable and more essential. But this isn't always easy to do because of the time involved.

Customer retention has been one of my top focuses for eight years at the software company I founded, WordStream. We've probably done more than 1,000 experiments over the years. Now I'd like to share some of my findings.

Here are four unusual ways to reduce churn rates and increase overall customer lifetime value.

1. Set the right expectations.

The number one source of churn is actually setting the wrong customer expectations. How does this start? During the sales process.

Here's the problem: salespeople are trying to close deals every month to meet their quota. So sometimes they might sell to the wrong customer (a buyer who doesn't really fit into your target market) or make lofty promises that go beyond the reality of the services you provide. 

You need to know what your salespeople are selling. Make sure it aligns with what you actually offer.

How can you ensure your salespeople are laying out realistic expectations and targeting the right customers?

One of the worst things you can do is implement a clawback, where a sales commission goes away if your customer doesn't last for a set amount of time. This is negative punishment and is absolutely terrible.

The smarter way to do it is to give everyone a commission for the sale, then add a meaningful bonus or deferred compensation that is payable based on retention. So if a customer lasts longer than 90 days (or whatever threshold you choose), then your salesperson earns the additional compensation. Totally positive reinforcement!

2. Build meaningful relationships.

You'd think that helping you customers achieve success through use of your product would result in less churn. Nope.

In fact, we found a negative correlation between quality of the results that were being delivered and the average customer retention duration. The better performance we gave, the more likely they were to churn -- we helped them out so much they didn't need us anymore!

You'll actually find more success by focusing on building a personal relationship with your customers. Make sure you're on good terms with the stakeholders. Try to be their best friend.

Having fun, great calls together correlates strongly to longer customer lifetime value. You'll find this is true of pretty much every product or services company.

One way to do this is to avoid switching your customer service people around a lot. If your customer service person is changing every three months, it will be hard to build any sort of meaningful relationship with your clients.

3. Focus on pivotal moments.

Map out the journey that all your customers take. You need to figure out which moments matter the most in their journey and invest heavily in these key moments. Delivering a great customer experience at these times will pay off.

There are certain pivotal moments in a customer relationship where if they have a really great experience, then they will love you forever. But if they have a really terrible experience, then they will remember that forever as well. More importantly: they won't last long as a customer. 

Obviously, these key moments will vary, depending on your business and industry. For example, at WordStream, we focus on key moments such as the customer onboarding experience, setting up their first AdWords campaign, and configuring their call tracking. 

These moments are so very, very critical to reducing churn. They need to go well. So we try to over prepare and over service at these parts of the customer journey. 

4. Just Say No To Certain Types Of Customers

Figure out what elements of your customer market churn or quit at higher rates than other segments. Once you dig into your customer retention data, you'll likely find all kinds of interesting relationships.

For instance, one thing we discovered was that larger companies were far more likely to stay on longer as a client. If they had a lot of money to spend, they stuck around much longer.

But tiny companies and companies doing affiliate marketing? Not so much. No matter what we did, they wouldn't remain clients very long.

Insights like these will help give you a good idea about which market you should target or completely avoid.

Based on our insights, we eventually decided not to chase or take on certain types of clients. Certain types of customers just weren't committed to seeing our product through because of how they were hoping to use it.

Don't be afraid to just say no to certain types of suspect customers. 

Will everything discussed in this article instantly cut your churn in half or double your customer retention? No. But these four points will help you chip away at it.

Obviously, the biggest way to reduce churn and extend customer lifetime value is tomake your product or service infinitely more valuable than your competitors.

Bottom line: it's critical to keep your best customers. You've already spent money to acquire and onboard them, and you've already paid commissions to your salespeople. Every month you can keep them will bring considerable value to your business. It's money in the bank!

Thank you to Larry Kim for writing this article.

19 Words That Will Make You Look More Intelligent, Hip, and Erudite

19 Words That Will Make You Look More Intelligent, Hip, and Erudite
Language is changing. Either keep up with it or get left behind.

Time's they are a changing. Language too. And if you don't want to get pegged as someone with an old person's vocabulary, you need to keep up with it all.

This week, Dictionary.com rolled out hundreds of words that it's adding officially to its database. They're a good start--a place to check your words and phrases against the rolling tide of language and history.

You don't necessarily want to just go throwing these into your daily speech, but at the very least you want to know what many of them mean when others use them.

Cool point: This isn't just about what some editor thinks people should count as new words, but instead about what real people have been searching for. As Dictionary.comCEO Liz McMillan told Time.com: 

"We get over 5.5 billion word lookups every year, and we analyze those lookups to identify new words that we haven't seen before, and when we see a critical mass of volume against a particular word, our lexicography team will start researching."

With hundreds of new words and sayings we can't go through them all, but here 19 to get your started.

1. al desko

adjective, adverb, Facetious. (of meals or eating) at one's desk in an office:

2. athleisure

noun. a style of clothing worn as athletic apparel but also suitable for casual, everyday wear:

"Athleisure looks great whether you're working out or just running errands."

3. butthurt

noun. mental distress or irritation caused by an overreaction to a perceived personal slight, a bad outcome, etc.; adjective. feeling such mental distress or irritation:

"The comments section is full of butthurt idiots."

4. free-range parenting

noun. Informal. a style of child rearing in which parents allow their children to move about without constant adult supervision, aimed at instilling independence and self-reliance.

5. ghosting

noun. Informal. the practice of suddenly ending all contact with a person without explanation, especially in a romantic relationship: "He was a victim of ghosting."

Also called French goodbye, Irish goodbye. the act of leaving a social event or engagement suddenly without saying goodbye:

"Ghosting might be the best option if we want to get home before midnight."

Digital Technology. the removal of comments, threads, or other content from a website or online forum without informing the poster, keeping them hidden from the public but still visible to the poster.

6. hijra

noun, (in South Asia, especially India) 1. a person whose gender identity is neither male nor female, typically a person who was born male and dresses as a woman;

2. a person who is transgender or is transitioning to another gender.

7. hot take 

noun, Informal. a superficially researched and hastily written journalistic piece, online post, etc., that presents opinions as facts and is often moralistic: "a hot take on healthcare reform."

8. intersectionality

the oppression and discrimination resulting from the overlap of an individual's various social identities: "the intersectionality of oppression experienced by black women."

9. lamestream

1. noting or relating to traditional print and broadcast media, when regarded as lacking the fairness, creativity, etc., of independent online news sources.

2. noting or relating to a person or thing that has achieved mainstream popularity but is perceived as no longer original, creative, etc.

10. long-form

adjective, 1. noting or relating to journalistic content or a genre of journalism characterized by stories or essays that are several thousand words long, typically combining factual reporting with a narrative and empathetic style:

"A long-form article can illuminate and humanize your subject."

noun, journalistic or other media content so characterized:

"I've started writing more long-form on my blog."

11. lumbersexual

noun 1.a man whose style of dress and appearance is reminiscent of the ruggedly masculine stereotype of the lumberjack, as in wearing plaid shirts and having a beard.a man whose style of dress and appearance is reminiscent of the ruggedly masculine stereotype of the lumberjack

12. manspread

verb (used without object), Informal. 1. (of a man) to sit with one's legs far apart, taking up too much space on a seat shared with other people:

13. mom jeans

noun, ( used with a plural verb) 1. Informal. unstylish women's jeans.

14. NBD

acronym for no big deal: "I'll just stay home, NBD."

15. panromantic

adjective, 1.noting or relating to a person who is romantically attracted to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities:

"The singer came out as queer and panromantic at age 17."

16. presstitute

noun, Slang: Disparaging. 1. a journalist or media source whose news coverage is considered to be inappropriately influenced by business interests, political motives, etc. (often used attributively):

"claims made by the industry and trumpeted by the corporate presstitute media."

17. train wreck

noun. Slang. a person who has experienced a personal failure, disaster, etc.; a disastrous situation, occurrence, or process: "

His football career has been a train wreck."

18. woke

adjective, Slang. (often used in the phrase stay woke) actively aware of systemic injustices and prejudices, especially those related to civil and human rights:

"In light of recent incidents of police brutality, it's important to stay woke."

aware of the facts, true situation, etc. (sometimes used facetiously):

"The moon landing was staged. Stay woke!" 

19. ze

pronoun 1. (occasionally used with a singular indefinite pronoun or singular noun antecedent in place of the definite masculine he or the definite feminine she): "My friend didn't want to go to the party, but ze ended up having a great time!"

Thank you to Bill Murphy for writing this article.